Savaria - A Vas Megyei Múzeumok értesítője 30. (2006) (Szombathely, 2007)

Régészet - Anderkó Krisztián: Savaria vízvezetéke

Savaria a Vas megyei Múzeumok Értesítője, 30 (2006) geographical environment, the topography and the water pressure characterizes both cases. In knowledge of the foregoing another question emerges, that is to say, why does the subterranean section of the aqueduct run over the city? The most optimal solution seemed to have been that the pipeline had been mounted' previously, which —from this point — could have proceeded straigh forward to the medial axis of Savaria. Of course, it is also probable that other influencing factors must have been considered in the course of the implementation: perhaps, the assumed venue of the province congregation and the ara augustorum, which was located between the Bagolyvár ('Owls' Castle') and the city surrounded by walls (KlSS et al. 1998:28, Fig. 17), must have been supplied with water (Fig. 14:36) and also, the option to have the pipeline shared must be taken into account. Conspicuously few data has been available in respect to the water distribution process within the city: at Fő Square б

28 'three pools between two parallel opus spicatum were found. The central one and one on the side had water dischargers. ' (BUOCZ

1967: 57). The published drawings depict three circular structures attached to each other, which were built against the wall having been as wide as 70 cms (Fig. 17). Another chronicle informs us on a 'pit having had walls of bricks, a depth of 180 cms and a diameter ofcc. 100 cms' recovered at Street Ernő Hollán in 1896 and 'three circular and open mouthed pipelines were attached to one of its sides'and 'water was lead here from the south-west, where the premise having hada mosaic covered floor was situated' (BUOCZ 1967: 49). Regretfully, it is unlikely to make extensive conclusions based on the data available in respect to the real functions of these structures and possibly their roles in the water pipeline network. The fact that only as many as five archaeological data have been available in respect to water pipelines and water feed besides the above is conspicuous. Lead pipes were found at the construction process of the cathedral (LlPP 1880: 55) and in the yard of the seminary, today called Romkert ('Garden of ruins') (BUOCZ 1967: 30). A bronze pipe with a dog's head was found in Street Ernő Hollán (BUOCZ 1967:51) and Tibor Antal Horváth mentions a lead pipe with some encrypted markings on it (HORVÁTH 1993: 8). 'Pipes' were found in Street Petőfi Sándor, out of which 'the first may have lead water, whilst the second one hot steam (BUOCZ 1967: 69). The minor and major excavations held in the past decades to test layers of the 1st to 4th centuries (to sum up: BUOCZ 1967; MAYER and TÓTH 1993; KlSS et al. 1998: 8—67) did not recover any other artifacts that could be associated with water distribution or pipeline networks! This is remarkable even if we assume that the water channel built on vaults, just as in case of Aquincum (PÓCZY1980: 76, Fig. 66), or on the arcade tops of the houses (KlSS et al. 1998: 51) crossed the city. In such cases, water was distributed from the main pipeline. However, the pieces of the pipeline network required for this purpose — like the ones that came to light in Aquincum in large quantities (PÓCZY1980: 77—78) — were missing, which is quite conspicuous even if such pieces had not been made of resistant materials, but of wood, for instance in case of Aachen (GREWE 1985: 57) or Mainz (HODGE 1992:109, Fig. 64). Chlorite schist that composes the surrounding hills and usually used by the Romans was applied for the channel construction. Approximately, an amount of 42.000—43.000 m

3 of this raw material (mixed with slacked lime and sand) was built in the structure, if the length of

25 kms and the known data of the channel cross sections are taken into account. 28 Based on the identification completed tettospectively: Fő tér 46. 43